Connecticut Among Nation's Greenest States In 2018: New Ranking

The term "eco-friendliness" is no longer just used by hippies and crunchy granola types. It's gone mainstream, so to speak, and now it seems everyone is looking for ways to become more eco-friendly.

Whether its Walmart and Costco becoming leaders in selling organic foods. Or car manufacturers racing to debut electric vehicles. Or homeowners telling their landscapers "Please don't use any harmful chemicals on our lawn," it seems like everyone is on board for living a healthier, more natural, environmentally conscious lifestyle.

The good folks at personal finance website WalletHub know this, and recently came out with a ranking of 2018's Greenest States, just in time for Earth Day.

Topping the list of greenest states was Vermont (heck, it's called The Green Mountain State after all), followed by Oregon, Massachusetts, New York, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Connecticut at a respectable seventh place. New Hampshire, California and Rhode Island round out the top 10.

You think eco-friendliness and personal finance don't exactly go together? Think again. What we get from nature (food, water, resources), and how we treat the environment, greatly impacts our lifestyles and finances.

Take 2017, for example. WalletHub says that based on data from National Geographic, the 17 storms that ravaged the United States last year caused about $200 billion worth of property damage.

"Hurricane Maria, for example, left Puerto Rico without power for months and severely hurt the territory’s economy," writes author John S. Kiernan. "Experts attribute the high number of hurricanes to unusually warm Atlantic waters, so it’s possible that living more sustainably and using greener energy sources could prevent us from having quite as bad hurricane seasons in the future."

To come up with its ranking, WalletHub studied the 50 states and compared them "across three key dimensions: 1) Environmental Quality, 2) Eco-Friendly Behaviors and 3) Climate-Change Contributions." From there, it reviewed "23 relevant metrics," such as air and water quality; gasoline consumption per capita; and Carbon-Dioxide emissions per capita. Click here to read the full methodology.

As for the other end, the least greenest states all tend to produce or refine coal or oil. The worst offender is West Virginia at #50, followed by Louisiana, Kentucky, North Dakota and Alabama at #46.

To view the complete WalletHub ranking of 2018's Greenest States, click here.

(For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

Image via Shutterstock